Yep. The SE is a premium hardback book again featuring extensive text, lyrics, and a load of photos of the band making the album. The actual CD, though, is identical to the one you get in the normal edition.

@Stephen Hope says "Short Elevated Period received a lukewarm response from the panel on Steve Lamacq's Roundtable show on 6Music tonight..Not even JJ Burnel from The Stranglers fully appreciated it"

JJ seemed confused that Wire had 'gone pop' and admitted he only had Pink Flag so although he's a contemporary of Wire he clearly knows fuck all about them since Wire have been doing 'Pop' from the very beginning - and exactly what have The Stranglers done for the past 20 years other than play Punk revival gigs?

No I don't think that's true. One of the situations in previous recordings, to integrate Matt's sound into the group, this was done and one of the highlights of this new record is to involve more with the vocal content. The songs are not mid-paced at all in terms of the words and the content. It is a slow burn...

Just received my Special Edition from the postie. It looks beautiful, I'm going to spend the whole day pouring over it. The band have definitely built on the Change Becomes Us SE to create something really special!

My only minor quibble is that putting the CD in a flap in the side of the book makes it a little troublesome to retrieve the CD - but a lovely package nevertheless. Trackwise - I particularly love "Playing Harp For The Fishes"

I don't have the Change Becomes Us Special edition, but the Silver/Lead SE which arrived in the post this morning is a lovely piece of work.

Maybe it's my clunky fingers but I do find it difficult to pull the CD from its sleeve. It may have been better on a more traditional mounting...but I suspect that may have increased the production costs.

However I'm glad the band went down the colour photo route rather than the cliched black and white 'arty' shit... You get a real sense of a band at work at Rockfield.

It's a rather fine document of Wire at 40. And the music within doesn't disappoint either.

There are a lot of mid-tempo/slow songs on the album – only Short Elevated Period gets the pulse racing in the traditional Wire way. But only Colin was concerned there may by too many slower tracks, the rest of the band seems happy with the pacing of the record.

But after several listens EVERY track works its magic! Also, good to see Graham get three lead vocals, his voice complements the mood of the whole album.

The sound of Silver/Lead is very much in keeping with the eponymous album from 2015 and last year's Nocturnal Koreans. I see these albums as a sonic trio – put them all together on a playlist and you've got yourself Wire's 'White Album' !

Sonic Lens - Colin mentions in the book that the lyrics to this and "Joust & Jostle" were originally one text. This text formed the basis of a song called "Flying Dutchman" which was debuted at the same US gig as "Blogging". "Flying Dutchman" in later live appearances became "Flying Dutch" and "Black Watch Pipes" before being abandoned. The music is different to both "Joust" and "Sonic" - but is more aligned with "Joust".

Well, the Butler dropped the package on my desk and left the room with a smile. What did he know that I didn't?It had completely skipped my mind that I that this was due to arrive, so big surprise when I opened the package.No spoiler alerts here but just to say on first play this is Wire in their maturity, and I mean that in the best way. It is assured, confident, playful and poppy. Everything we have grown to love about Wire.So pleased to hear Graham sing lead on 3 tracks and Matt is now stamping his own identity on the groups sound.After what I thought was a lacklustre Wire album (the last one - sorry guys) I am happy that Silver/Lead is a gem

Well I just saw a review on Norman Records site that described "Playing Harp for the Fishes" as being a bad example of Colin using his "robo-voice". WTF? It's a Graham vocal. It's as "un-robo" as you could imagine.